Turning a Corner

I was flattered that the New York Times sent a theater critic to review Hey Girl! by the Italian stage auteur Romeo Castelucci. Although Peak Performances has offered numerous other theater events, none has ever received a critique from the cultural paper of record. The Star Ledger on the other hand has been a loyal follower of our work, providing insightful remarks about the varied artists on the Kasser stage. Hard to imagine writing about a stage work that is essentially visual theater – meaning that there is little conventional text or statements by performers to guide a patron into the world unfolding before one’s eyes – without at least one illustration. No pictures in that New York Times’ review. While, on the other hand, the Star Ledger not only produced a penetrating summary with some keen insight but also offered a picture! The Times writer – apparently a gentle soul with considerable theater chops delved into Hey Girl! in search of a story, perhaps even a plot and, in fact found one. One can’t say whether the analysis had much to do with Romeo’s intentions, but then “post dramatic’ theater is not about playwrights anyway. The power of the word to guide an audience and create catharsis has no place in 21st century Theater – at least not in Romeo’s mind. Having done what the 20th century critic often does – describes what he sees, the Times writer lamented that Romeo’s vision of womanhood was bleak and unredeemable. Womanhood isn’t always about oppression, he said, they have done more and aren’t merely victims. I can’t say whether Romeo feels that way, but I wonder about Tennessee Williams’ character Blanche DuBois and would the Times have said the same thing about A Streetcar Named Desire. Hey, Tennessee, couldn’t you find a better way of ending your tragedy??

Audiences for Hey Girl! were outstanding – yes, we think about marketing and audience development daily. A cross section of folks turned up. Three buses from Manhattan on Saturday. Two on Sunday. Practically every seat in house taken packed to the rafters with adventuresome New Jerseyeans from all over the state! And then the conoscenti: Matthew Barney, Chuck Mee, Marianne Weems, Susan Marshall and staggering assortment of New York theater Workshoppers and the venerable stage director Robert Woodruff – who hugged me and said: “I don’t often hug producers!”


Peak Performance is Turning a Corner
Friday night included a woman and her daughter. For reasons that remain mysterious, the mom was sitting in the balcony and the daughter in the orchestra near the stage. At the conclusion of a faux bludgeoning scene with pillows involving 35 men and one girl, the mom decided her daughter should not stay for the rest of the “show”. The mom drafted our house manager to rescue the girl and to creep into the theater (‘cause the house manager was wearing black) and spirit her daughter away!!! Once confronted with mom’s edict, the girl refused to leave and sent her older friend seated next to her to pass the new to her mom – “No way!” What was that helicopter mom seeing that she thought might frighten her daughter? Or was it the other way around, what frightened the mom into thinking her girl would be traumatized. Nothing that Romeo created, I can assure you...hey girl!

Cheaps seats do the trick – the way of the future for the performing arts. What is it about the $15 that frees the mind? Lowers those defenses? Provides a person with strength of character to learn to fly? Paying three or four times that amount just possibly closes out the senses. Speaking of which, much has been made of Romeo’s Visual theatre. I’ve even described his work as post-Wilson. Yet, the more I watch, I find that his theater is best left free of labels or, if one must categorize, let’s call his work ‘Theatre of the Subconscious’.

Did you see The Mircale on 34th Street over the holidays? If you remember the movie, the miracle was the court case that proved Santa Clause was real! Well, the real miracle was that two competing department (Macy’s and the now defunct Gimbels) stores started to recommend each other to their customers ( a marketing ploy) when a product was not available in their respective stores.

Fiona Shaw and Deborah Warner are at BAM this January with Samuel Beckett’s seminal work Happy Days. A production of the National Theater of Great Britain, this presentation isn’t necessarily a radical rethinking of the text or a stratospheric re-staging of the piece. It is straightforward, except that Ms Shaw discovers the poise and the meter of Beckett’s text that no other performer could have and shaped with the skilled and measured hand of Deborah Warner, Happy Days has finally found its voice! That is radical. By remaining faithful to the author, these treasured artists who have so often redefined a specific theatrical experience, do so again! That is avant-garde!!!

Of course, I’m miffed that Happy Days is going to BAM – The Harvey (named after America’s greatest impresario, Harvey Lichtenstein and BAM mogul) rather than Peak Performances @ Montclair. After all, I produced Deborah Warner and Fiona Shaw’s two previous NYC colossal successes – The Wasteland (The Liberty Theater on 42nd Street) and Medea (Next Wave Festival). I had these consummate artists lined up for Readings last season. What happened to that? The ladies were deep into Happy Days at the Littleton. Padraig Cussack – the shows producer and I had arranged for Happy Days to conclude in time for Readings to get here for its two week engagement. It seemed like a natural segue. But what was I thinking. The creative drive to discover Beckett’s Happy Days put Readings on a back burner.

On a desolate early winter afternoon, Deborah Warner sent a well composed plea (via the email of her assistant) asking that I postpone the engagement (oh, agony) which I did without a blink. Am I a softy? Not for me to say, but I truly respect the creative process of two women who are redefining the stage arts – one on and the other off! I put “Readings” to bed, swallowed my pride (saved some money!!!) and am now hoping that the three of us will find a new adventure in the future. Go see Happy Days – you’ll discover Beckett’s real intent with this work. I saw the final performance at The National in London and put my hand out to bring the production here and was never given a shot at it. Tom Pye’s set is HUGE. But its Fiona’s identification with the author that pushes the play out of this world!!!

Introductions

This is my first blogspace and I am delighted to reach out to all the people who are interested in what we do at Peak Performances@Montclair. In the coming days, I will post my thoughts about what is on our stage, how the arts fit into our community and whatever else is on my mind. Please feel free to check in and be part of our dialog.